I read Krugman's columns, but I don't really care for him. It seems to me that all of his conclusions are based on the presumption that everyone is exactly alike, that any discrepancy in income between two groups is totally caused by external factors, without including things like personal decisions, value systems, family support, etc. On the other hand, he does seem to be a very sympathetic man, which makes him want to fix things, make them better for everyone.

Matt Taibbi writes for Rolling Stone. He's done some excellent in-depth (and controversial) reporting on Goldman Sachs (where he famously likened them to a giant vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity) and the passage of the financial reform bill. The last is probably my favorite article by him and here it is for your reading pleasure:

His next article is going to be about the audit of the Federal Reserve. He says...

Quote:

That story, which will be coming out in Rolling Stone in two weeks, will examine in detail some of the many lunacies uncovered by Senate investigators amid the recently-released list of bailout and emergency aid recipients – a list that includes many extremely shocking names, from foreign industrial competitors to hedge funds in tax-haven nations to various Wall Street figures of note (and some of their relatives).

One such bailout loan was $26B lent at very low rates (down to 1/4 of 1%) to ABC Bank, which is 59% owned by the Central Bank of Libya--and has been exempted from the freeze on Libyan assets.

Quote:

Why, I wondered, would the Federal Reserve be giving Muammar Qaddafi $26 billion in near-zero interest loans? Exactly how does that address America’s financial problems? What bailout plan could that possibly be part of?